Back-to-school tax holiday comes too late, parents say

NOTE: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect starting date for schools in Miami-Dade County.

It's hailed as a boon for families, but this year's return of the back-to-school, sales-tax break comes too late for many Florida parents.

Crammed into three days instead of spread out over the traditional nine or 10, Florida's tax-free holiday from Aug. 13-15 falls right before the first day of school in some counties, including Seminole, Volusia and Palm Beach. And some private schools start classes before the tax holiday begins.

"I'm not going to go through the chaos of doing that the weekend before school," said Melinda Mays of Altamonte Springs, who finished her shopping last week. "It's just not worth the trouble."

Mays, who has five children, has timed her shopping to coincide with the sales-tax exemption in years past, saving money both on taxes and sales that merchants added onto the exemption. But she wants to spend the last few days of this year's summer break relaxing, not fighting crowds in stores

The Palm Beach County public school session begins Aug. 17. Susan Raifee, who has two children in a Boynton Beach elementary school, said this year's weekend-long tax holiday does not give her enough time to get properly prepared.

"It would help if it had come a little earlier or was a little longer," said Raifee, who was juggling a quick school supply shopping trip Tuesday with her job in pharmaceutical technology. But Raifee said she would "fit in" a second trip next week so she can take advantage of the tax exemption.

State lawmakers first offered the tax holiday in 1998, but they suspended it for the past two years because of budget woes. Florida retailers lobbied to return it this year, saying it would help spur the economy while giving consumers a break.

The exemption on state sales and local-option sales tax – generally ranging between 6.5 and 7 percent in Central Florida, and between 6 and 7 percent in South Florida — applies to supplies costing $10 or less, and most clothing costing $50 or less.

Sen. Mike Fasano, R- New Port Richey, who sponsored the tax-break bill, said retailers suggested its general timing. But they had also wanted it to last for more than a week, he said.

Fasano said he'd wanted the longer time period, too, but other legislators insisted on three days, worried that extending it too long would bring less money into state coffers. Budget analysts expect state and local governments to miss out on $26.1 million.

"We should have had it longer," Fasano said.

But even the Aug. 13-22 time frame that he had pushed for would not have been any more convenient parents whose kids start earlier.

"We recommended the dates based on the input of our members," Florida Retail Federation president Rick McAllister said. "We expect they did that based on what they knew about when school started in most areas of the state. Unfortunately you can't change it from one area to the other just because school starts at a different point."

Rick Ludwig, vice president of ACE Educational Supplies in South Florida, said timing always is critical when it comes to the tax exemption, and running it at different times over the years has made it confusing for consumers.

But he said teachers and parents have been taking advantage of the back-to-school promotions offered in his two stores over the past few weeks, regardless of still having to pay sales tax.

Most of Central Florida, including Orange, Osceola and Lake, starts school Aug. 23. In South Florida, Palm Beach begins classes on Aug. 17; the Broward and Miami-Dade school year begins Aug. 23.

Some South Florida parents said an August tax holiday is inconvenient because families often are trying to wrap up their vacations in that month.

"My kids don't get back until the day after its over," said Teresa Boiko, of Sunrise. "They're in high school. So they would not appreciate me buying their clothes without their approval."

It's not the first instance of Florida scheduling its sales tax exemption at an inconvenient time for at least some of the people it's meant to benefit. When it started in 1998, it kicked off a week after school started in Orange County.

In the following years, it began in late July.

Cyndi Shifrel of Lake Mary says she'll probably have to finish up shopping the weekend before her son and daughter head back to Lake Mary High School. But she has shopped throughout the summer rather than waiting to purchase everything at once.

"It's just going to be crazy that weekend, getting everything ready for the kids and settling down for the summer," Shifrel said.

Parents also don't want to wait too late because they fear the clothes and supplies will be picked over. Already, Mays said, trendy fashions have been hard to find.

"Like skinny jeans, because they're a big deal with the high schoolers, were kind of slim pickings," she said.

Sheryl Shaffer, also of Lake Mary, still has a few supplies to pick up for her two boys in elementary school.

"I'm still debating, to tell you the truth," whether to wait until the last minute for the tax-free weekend. "For that small of a break, for the few things that we need. ... It's going to be mass chaos."